School of Community and Global Health to host training for the National Diabetes Prevention Program

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is collaborating with the Diabetes Training and Technical Assistance Center (DTTAC) at Emory University to host lifestyle coach training for the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP). The two-day training will take place on December 5-6, 2013.

The National DPP is a public-private partnership led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lifestyle coaches trained under the National DPP will lead year-long programs designed to help nearly 80-million at-risk Americans make the lifestyle changes necessary to avoid developing type 2 diabetes, the fastest growing disease in the United States.

"This program is especially critical in California, where more than 40 percent of adults have already developed prediabetes," said Kimberly Johnson, MPH, a NDPP DTTAC master trainer and research assistant in CGU's School of Community and Global Health. "Most people can avoid developing type 2 diabetes with basic changes to their diet and exercise regimens. If we can build a network of lifestyle coaches to spread that message to the public we can make a huge impact on the quality of life for millions of Californians."

Diabetes is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body's ability to produce or use insulin. Nearly 26 million Americans, or about 8 percent of the population, have diabetes. The most common type, type 2, is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.

The number of adults who have developed type 2 diabetes has tripled in the past three decades even though the disease can often be thwarted by healthy eating, increased physical activity, weight loss, and stress reduction. Studies have shown that evidence-based lifestyle intervention programs that teach individuals how to make these changes reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by nearly 60 percent. Prescription drug treatments, meanwhile, are successful only about half as often.

Lifestyle coaches trained at CGU will use the CDC-recommended curriculum for the lifestyle intervention.

Lifestyle coaches may be nurses, dietitians, educators, or lay people who work in health care, community organizations, worksites, or academic institutions that wish to deliver the National DPP lifestyle change program.

The training is open to organizations from California and surrounding states. Johnson, DTTAC master trainer, will lead the training.

Organizations interested in having lifestyle coaches trained can contact Emory University’s Diabetes Training and Technical Assistance Center at dttac@emory.edu or (404) 712-8474 for further information and to register for the training.

About the School of Community and Global Health

Based at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California, its program offeres masters degree in public health and a PhD in health promotion sciences. Its leading faculty researches emerging world issues and focuses on preventative illnesses and diseases within communities around the world.